About the Author

As a lifelong avid hiker, and past forestry volunteer, my blog is dedicated to sharing Northern California trails with photos, maps, driving directions, difficulty ratings, elevation changes, trail conditions, and related tips. At http://peachyhiker.blogspot.com/, read about everything from swimming in
glacier lakes alongside the melting snow to being stranded overnight in the wilderness. Find trails to hike and backpack in Northern California and related topics. For those unable to get to these places, my goal is to help you experience what I do vicariously. Occasionally other related topics are addressed.

I am here for culture, information, inspiration, wisdom, knowledge, encouragement, humor, and to share some of each with you too.

On Google+ find photos and subject matter I am committed to or sharing for qualities I appreciate.

An excellent handbook for athletes with information my podiatrist never discussed or considered as part of my treatment! Included are diagrams, photos, preventative measures, and treatments. Saving my feet is saving my backpacking!

Great directions, lots of descriptions and options. Map segments are included, photographs, difficulty ratings, days to hike, mileage, elevations, optional side treks, camping, how secluded an area is or isn't, parking, and historical info...

Ed Webster gives a detailed account of his bid to summit Mount Everest without all of the people and support most mountaineers' have the advantages of. They went without oxygen, without the usual host of sherpas to set up all of the camps ...

Yes, I know it sounds morbid to read a book of accounts of nearly 900 deaths in a forest over all its years in existence, but I learned so much and who knows, one of those lessons may save me either through awareness and knowledge, or throu...

A combination of journal style writing and subject overviews and information about the family's planning and trek on the PCT. Adventures, challenges, pitfalls and successes they experienced and information to help hopeful trekkers succeed ...

Great hikes in and around Georgetown, CA with driving and parking directions, difficulty ratings, features to look for, hand drawn maps, and distances from Georgetown for reference. Nice pocket book to carry along! On the flip side, I woul...

The frightening tale of a man left for dead and his miraculous survival is engaging, alarming, and sometimes I just couldn't put it down. The details of his life, all the way back into his childhood, got a little tedious for me. I found h...

October 18, 2015

Report California Sightings of Venomous Yellow Bellied Sea Snakes!

of the highly venomous Yellow Bellied Sea Snakes washing up on our California beaches, possible due to El Nino storms. The snakes have been reported as far north as Oxnard, although it is normally at home in tropical waters, and can give birth out at sea.

Yellow Bellied Sea Snakes normally live in warmer tropical waters, but the effects of El Nino may be the warming of the ocean off of California. The snakes are 28-35 inches long. This bicolored cobra relative will be yellow or brown below and may have a series of black bars rather than a single black stripe on the top side."The snake venom can cause damage to skeletal muscle with consequent myoglobinuria, neuromuscular paralysis or direct renal damage.""The E. schistosa antivenom was tested specifically on Pelamus platurus, and it effectively neutralised the venom." Source link.

If you have it available, please use GPS coordinates when sending images of your sightings. Warnings are to avoid touching the snakes, but photograph or film them, send your findings to the links above.